1 of 2 men involved in fake missionary robbery arrested

By Pat Reavy |
Posted - Aug 26th, 2013 @ 6:55pm

LAS VEGAS — One of two men accused of posing as Mormon missionaries and robbing a Las Vegas man has been arrested.

The men weren't missionaries. But they were former members of the military and beat a homeowner before stealing his medical marijuana, according to a warrant filed by Las Vegas metro police in Clark County Justice Court.

Police arrested Abraham Austin, 28, in connection with the June 27 incident Friday on a warrant charging him with conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary with a gun, battery, robbery with a deadly weapon, battery with a deadly weapon and two counts of kidnapping.

His accomplice was identified as 25 year-old Robert Estall, who remained at large as of Monday.

On June 27, a little after 6 a.m., two men wearing white shirts, ties, dark pants and backpacks went to a residence near the corner of Flamingo and Buffalo streets and said they "wanted to talk religion" with the homeowner, according to court documents.

The homeowner later told police the men were dressed like "Mormon missionaries," although investigators weren't sure if they ever identified themselves as such.

The homeowner told the men it was "too early for all this," and turned his back to close the door, according to court records. That's when he was "jumped" by the fake missionaries.

As the homeowner tried to fight the men off, he was repeatedly pistol-whipped on the back of his head and face until he bled, the warrant states. The beating didn't stop until the man told one of the attackers that he had AIDS, prompting one of the suspects to run off to the bathroom to wash blood off his hands, police said.

Meantime, the man's wife ran upstairs to a bedroom closet to hide and call 911. While she was hiding, one of the suspects ransacked the bedroom as if he was looking for something. One of the intruders continued to yell, "Where's the safe?" "Where's the money?" and "We know you have money," police wrote in the warrant.

A safe was located in a room adjacent to the garage. The homeowner was held "face down on the garage floor with a gun stuck in the back of his head," the warrant states.

Police say the two men took about an ounce of medical marijuana from the safe.

The suspects were recorded entering the house by the home's surveillance system. When video from that incident was turned over to the media by Las Vegas police, several people called to tell investigators that the two men had been discharged from the miliary, according to court records. Investigators used records from Nellis Air Force Base as part of their investigation.

Anyone with information on Estall, considered by police to be the primary aggressor in the attack, should call investigators at 702-828-3591.